"Toonami" News & Discussion Thread

Yojimbo

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I actually did listen to it and nothing new was revealed. It was more looking at DeMarco's career up to this point and some of the history of Toonami. It's a good interview though, I enjoyed it. Lots of funny stories and interesting tidbits(like how they used to argue with Mike Lazzo that people watched Toonami for both the shows and the presentation while Lazzo said that they only tuned in for the shows, not the "bleeping robot").
Mmm, so the only real new thing is at the end of February, Uzumaki still isn't done yet.
 

zoombie

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I wonder what is going to happen on March 13th Toonami schedule, since it is the start of Daylight Savings time.
 

veemonjosh

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Adult Swim has ordered two more seasons of FLCL, as well as an original horror anime titled "Housing Complex C".

Toonami-FLCL-Housing-Complex-C.jpg


The two new “FLCL” seasons are titled “FLCL: Grunge” and “FLCL: Shoegaze,” both of which are currently in production. “Grunge” is directed by Hitoshi Takekiyo and animated by MontBlanc Pictures. “Shoegaze” is directed by Yutaka Uemura and animated by Production I.G x NUT.

“What better time to announce two new seasons of ‘FLCL’ and ‘Housing Complex C’ than on our 25th anniversary,” said Jason DeMarco, creative director of Toonami and senior vice president of action and anime for WarnerMedia. “Adult Swim’s ongoing commitment to support Toonami with new original series is something anime fans can celebrate every day.”

“Housing Complex C” centers around Kimi, who lives in a small, low-cost housing complex located in the seaside town of Kurosaki where trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes, and horrific incidents begin to occur. Is an ancient evil stalking the residents of Housing Complex C?

The series is directed by Yuji Nara with script and original concept by amphibian. The animation studio is Akatsuki. Both “FLCL” seasons and “Housing Complex C” are executive produced by DeMarco and produced by Maki Terashima-Furuta of Production IG USA.

There's a preview of Housing Complex C:


And a 10 second preview of FLCL: Grunge.

 
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wonderfly

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ICYMI (this didn't run until during Naruto):


Okay, that....has me intrigued. Is that the first "Total Immersion Event" since "The Forge"?

"Cosmo Samurai" takes place in an "alternate timeline" (or something), right?

EDIT: Is it just me, or are they not doing as much for the 25th anniversary as they did for the 20th? I remember on the 20th, there was a "Retrospective" video uploaded to Adult Swim's website that was celebrating the occasion, it had stuff like interviews with Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco.....also a lot of rare (old) promos got uploaded to Youtube, in honor of the occasion.
 
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Nobodyman

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Because apparently we hadn't beaten that dead horse quite enough.

I mean, I actually enjoyed Progressive and Alternative (more than most), but nothing's ever going to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the original series. And I'm pretty sure I (and many others) said the same thing when Prog and Alt were announced, but here we are again.
 

PicardMan

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Shocked at more FLCL sequel seasons when Demarco claimed Progressive and Alternative were financial failures. Still, the FLCL sequels were probably the least bad of the recent Toonami originals and the partnership with Crunchyroll ending might be best for Toonami as the Crunchyroll Originals brand seems to be toxic. Housing Complex C looks like the kind of gory horror anime they haven't aired since the mid 2010s. Demarco just tweeted when we can expect to see either show.


It's possible that Housing Complex C could replace Shenmue. Right now, I'm really hoping that Housing Complex C can actually be good as these Toonami Originals continue to disappoint. The Sonic Cycle could easily be modified to be The Toonami Originals Cycle. I keep getting burned expecting one of them to turn out good as the Toonami brand name was highly prestigious way back in the day. At least Shenmue seems to be a watchable mediocre show and Fena Pirate Princess is the only Toonami Original I would put in the complete abomination category. Still, aside from Samurai Jack season 5, there has still yet to be a true hit from the Toonami Originals line and pretty much all of them seem to be middling-average.

1647551082994.png
 

Kitschensyngk

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(from the talkback thread of Alternative episode 1)
well, unless they decide to do a "FLCL Grunge" series
I CALLED IT! I CALLED IT!

That said, I thought the previous series went from grade school to middle school to high school, what with the puberty theme and all. Where will Grunge, or for that matter, Shoegaze go from there?
 

Nobodyman

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(from the talkback thread of Alternative episode 1)

I CALLED IT! I CALLED IT!

That said, I thought the previous series went from grade school to middle school to high school, what with the puberty theme and all. Where will Grunge, or for that matter, Shoegaze go from there?
College? Postgrad? Early working career? I 'unno.
 

Gold Guy

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The FLCL sequels aren't bad...but don't really stand out as anything memorable. Hopefully seasons 4 and 5 can elevate themselves.
 

Yojimbo

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Cool, guess starting with Uzumaki, they got an inkling to try more horror.

FLCL, I'll watch it. I probably won't get half of it but I'll watch it. :D
 

Daikun

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I'm in the crowd that didn't like the FLCL sequels, and I feel the biggest problem they had was the studio behind it--Production I.G wasn't a good fit for continuing the FLCL legacy. Not only did they not fill in the massive shoes left from its predecessor, but they barely even tried. Yes, I understand that I.G was the co-producer for the original series, but let's be frank--FLCL was really Gainax's baby. The production had their fingerprints all over it, and you can really feel the difference when they're not involved.

Production I.G tends to be more conservative, slow-paced, and budget-conscious than other anime studios, and that approach doesn't really gel with Gainax's wild, bombastic energy. Even though Gainax is practically dormant nowadays, there were still plenty of other studios who could have carried the mantle. Madhouse, Science SARU, and most obviously, Gainax's own successor Trigger all come to mind. If they had been in charge of the animation instead of I.G, I feel seasons 2 and 3 would have fared much better.

This small teaser for Grunge gives me a glimmer of hope that there may be a decent continuation of FLCL after all. We'll have to wait and see.
 

PicardMan

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FLCL Grunge will be done by Montblanc Pictures, a CGI studio. Considering how much hate Blade Runner: Black Lotus got for being CGI, isn't it guaranteed to get a large hate train? Production I. G. at least can make beautiful looking shows like Fena even if they hire hacks to write scripts. FLCL Shoegaze is appearently I. G. again so I guess it will probably be the same middling mediocrity as Progressive and Alternative. Housing Complex C is being done by a very minor studio that usually does touch up frames for other studios. Most people have probably never heard of studio Akatsuki (which I don't think is affiliated with the Naruto villain organization of the same name). The trailer's lo-fi VHS-esque look might be done to obscure just how low quality the animation will look. Really, there seems to be hardly any reason to be excited when these Toonami Originals have a track record of being mostly mediocre.

 

Light Lucario

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Well that's a surprise. I really didn't think that they'd go for more FLCL seasons, especially when DeMarco said the other seasons were financial failures. Maybe they figured that it would have more brand recognition than going with a different property. Personally, I was fine with both Progressive and Alternative. They weren't as good as the first FLCL season, but that was lightning in a bottle, so I wasn't really expecting them to pull something like that off twice. They were still generally fine, even though making both a sequel and prequel season to the original FLCL seemed like a weird decision.

That being said, I'm not sure what to really expect out of two more seasons or how well they can work. I'm curious what a more detailed trailer or synopsis will look like. I'm willing to give it a chance at least. Housing Complex C might be a bit too gory for me and I'm not really into horror, but it is a different kind of series.
 

PicardMan

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Maybe they figured that it would have more brand recognition than going with a different property.

Surprised they haven't gone with Trigun Maximum. That's probably the only sequel/reboot idea for an existing Adult Swim/Toonami show people would actually respond well to. If that was what was announced today instead, I guarantee the reaction on the various Toonami boards would be significantly more positive than the salt I'm seeing towards more FLCL sequels.
 

SpaceCowboy

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At first I thought this was a premature April Fools joke.

Production I.G tends to be more conservative, slow-paced, and budget-conscious than other anime studios, and that approach doesn't really gel with Gainax's wild, bombastic energy.
Ironic considering they were the same studio that animated Dragon Half, a gonzo D&D anime from 1993. Despite being only 2 episodes, I felt it had a lot more energy than the last two FLCL seasons combined.
Even though Gainax is practically dormant nowadays, there were still plenty of other studios who could have carried the mantle. Madhouse, Science SARU, and most obviously, Gainax's own successor Trigger all come to mind. If they had been in charge of the animation instead of I.G, I feel seasons 2 and 3 would have fared much better.
I recall Gainax sold off a fair amount of their licenses a while back and don't know if they still make anything. Trigger would be the best choice since some of the more prominent Gainax staff of late migrated there (like Imaishi).
 
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Light Lucario

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Surprised they haven't gone with Trigun Maximum. That's probably the only sequel/reboot idea for an existing Adult Swim/Toonami show people would actually respond well to. If that was what was announced today instead, I guarantee the reaction on the various Toonami boards would be significantly more positive than the salt I'm seeing towards more FLCL sequels.
That would have been amazing. Trigun is one of my favorite anime series and I would have been over the moon with excitement if they announced a reboot/sequel for that series. I'm not too surprised that they didn't go that route. From what I understand, Trigun wasn't hugely successful in Japan and if that is the case, then it could have been too difficult to get the funding or greenlight for a reboot. We were pretty lucky to get Badlands a few years ago. It's still such a cool idea that I would love for it to happen someday though.

I've also seen a few people saying that the Big O could have been an option. I know that they have the rights to at least the second season, but I don't know if there would have been enough name brand recognition for that to get more seasons either.
 

PicardMan

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I've also seen a few people saying that the Big O could have been an option. I know that they have the rights to at least the second season, but I don't know if there would have been enough name brand recognition for that to get more seasons either.

The Big O season 2 was patient zero for controversial Adult Swim/Toonami originals. Fans might actually want to get a season 3 to explain the confusing and bizarre ending of season 2. Considering the decline of mecha in the American fandom, this is probably why this won't happen. I know that a very small number of people thought of the idea of a Cowboy Bebop sequel, but that's too much of a sacred cow to touch. I'm guessing when it comes to co-productions, I noticed that none of the American companies doing them has ever co-produced a Shonen Jump title even though that would seem like the safest and least risky coproduction possible. I'm wondering why? Both Netfix and Toonami have co-produced maligned CGI content despite American fans stating displeasure towards CGI anime and it looks like FLCL: Grunge is continuing on with that despite fan backlash. It's just weird how these original anime co-produced by American companies seem to do as audience alienating stuff as possible instead of just play it safe and just create a safe DBZ esque anime. A lot of these Western co-produced originals have failed, be it Crunchyroll, Toonami, or Netflix, but they continue to chug along anyway. Sometimes, gold is struck and something like Devilman Crybaby is made, but I'm wondering when Toonami will make its equivalent of Devilman Crybaby or Tonikawa. If Netflix and Crunchyroll can occasionally get a lucky dice roll and co-produce a hit original, surely Toonami can eventually do so too.
 

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